ABSTRACT
The American cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait., is a recently domesticated native of North America. V. macrocarpon is a diploid (2n=2x=24) long-lived woody perennial adapted to acid soils and a temperate climate, requiring approximately 1200 hours of chilling to break winter dormancy. Indigenous peoples were reported to collect the berries for various food and medicinal products (for brief review, see Ref. 1). Settlers from Europe began utilizing the fruit to help prevent scurvy. The first reported attempt to cultivate the cranberry was made in 1810 in Cape Cod, Massachusetts (1). Since that time, the cranberry industry in the United States has grown to a current production of approximately 550 million pounds annually (2). Today, cranberry fruit is utilized mostly for juices. Cranberry juice has been reported to help prevent urinary tract infections. Recent research in this area has suggested that compounds in the juice prevent or inhibit the adhesion of Escherichia coli in the urinary tract (3-5).
